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Language Woes in Target Country | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Elanguest Newbie Malta elanguest.com Joined 3857 days ago 19 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* | Message 17 of 19 29 April 2014 at 11:53am | IP Logged | |||||
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If you find yourself learning more when you study on your own, go for it! :) Try doing everything out loud though, so
that you'll get used to hearing and producing the sounds. Then when you're in an immersive situation (on the street, for example), you'll start to pick out the things you've learned. I'm not a person who can just "pick up" a language either; I have to study or I don't learn anything. One thing to keep in mind though is that, even without studying, the one year mark is the place where you really start to assimilate what you hear. Don't be discouraged! It will get easier. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4524 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes  Studies: German | Message 18 of 19 29 April 2014 at 2:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
As Serpent said earlier, I'd say it's completely normal. I've been learning German in Berlin for the last two years, and by far the most I helpful thing I've done is only watch shows and read books in German. And you need to do that a lot. You mention going to the cinema to see a film - try to see the equivalent of 30 a month. Try to read at least 500 pages of a book each month. If you are around B2 that should be doable. If you want some motivation why not sign up for the Super Challenge that is just starting? I've also worked in English during the day and I realize how hard it is to switch into your TL at the end of. However, you need to set some sort of linguistic borders around you - make the house a Spanish-only zone. I agree with Serpent that language classes are to be avoided. In general, though this is hard, I would avoid making friends with non-Spanish speakers as you'll end up caught forever in an English bubble. If you can afford it you might want to get private tuition to get over your nervousness about speaking. Also I would be gentle on your progress. It seems to take FOREVER to get through the B1s and B2s. Edited by patrickwilken on 29 April 2014 at 2:02pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lakeseayesno Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico thepolyglotist.com Joined 4325 days ago 280 posts - 488 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 19 of 19 29 April 2014 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I third Serpent's notion of avoiding language classes. You have the best classroom just outside your door--it takes guts to attend, but since you already have the notions of the language, the only thing left to do is try.
Also, you have some guts, what with starting with Uruguayan Spanish... in my humble opinion, it's just about the less learner-friendly variety of Spanish there is, haha. Now, may I ask if you have any Uruguayan friends other than your boyfriend? I may have gotten the wrong impression, but it sounds like your social circles are also limited to English. If you want someone to give you a gentle push with Spanish, send me a PM. If there's anything I can do to help you shed the reservations you have, I'd love to help. Also...
Don't sweat the accent while you're in Uruguay--here in Mexico, people think my accent is from Uruguay or Argentina, but whenever I go back to Uruguay, people think I have a Mexican accent. :) (Please keep in mind that I'm a native hispanophone, though, so it's not like I'm actually trying to sound like them.) Just focus on forcing yourself to speak, not on sounding like everyone else. You'll assimilate the accent naturally later on. As for becoming part of the culture, have you tried making conversation while drinking mate with new friends? I get that the drink itself is not actually that pleasant, but it's an incredible conversational lubricant and it shows that you want to partake in a pretty unique part of the country's culture.
Emk, I respect you to pieces, but as a citizen of Uruguay I have to recommend you never make this mistake in front of an actual Uruguayan (unless you want an abrupt change in the number of teeth in your mouth). I live in a different country, so I've learned to tolerate the fact that almost no one knows where Uruguay is until they look at a map (or that Paraguay and Uruguay are not the same country), but judging from the reactions of most of my relatives at this kind of innocent mistake, the same doesn't go for a lot of other Uruguayans... Edited by Lakeseayesno on 29 April 2014 at 7:26pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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